Dragon Expert
by embraidery
Summary: Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace find themselves on the Dawn Treader with a redheaded stranger named Charlie. He and Lucy become fast friends, and his knowledge of dragons quickly comes in handy.


A/N: this was originally meant to be an AU in which the Weasleys were alive in the '40s, and somehow Charlie got sent to Narnia along with the others. But the dialogue feels more '90s. Go with what you feel, since it's set in Narnia. Most of what has already happened on the trip has happened more or less the way it did in canon.

—

After the _Dawn Treader_ landed on the mountainous island, there was so much work to do that Lucy barely had a moment to catch her breath. She had helped the others refill the casks of water and cooked lunch with the ship's cook. She'd tidied up the remains of lunch, too, since most of the men were busy repairing the ship and the barrels. Then she ran countless errands for the others. When she finally finished, she found a soft patch of grass and flopped down onto it with a sigh. She closed her eyes, suddenly sleepy, until a shadow fell across her and darkened the light behind her eyelids to black.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Lucy opened her eyes. "Not at all, Mr. Weasley," she said formally, and giggled.

"After we have a bit of a rest, would you like to explore the island with me?" Charlie asked, taking a seat next to her. He scrubbed both hands through his cropped red hair.

Lucy looked up at the sky to see how much light was left. "Let's," she said, and leaned back onto the grass. She spread her arms and waved them back and forth, making a grass angel.

"I still can't believe this," Charlie said, sweeping his arm to indicate the island in particular and Narnia in general.

"I can't either," Lucy said, holding both hands to her heart. She sighed happily. "I could stay here forever."

"What about your brother and sister, and your friends?"

Lucy sighed. "I would miss Peter. And Susan, sometimes." She wrinkled her nose.

Charlie laughed. "I know that feeling. I have six siblings and I don't miss them when I'm away."

"You don't live with them?" Lucy asked, plucking some blades of grass and twisting them around her fingers.

"No. I live in an animal sanctuary."

"Wow! What kind of animals?" Lucy dropped the grass onto her stomach and turned her head to look at Charlie.

Charlie frowned, looking into the distance, then back at Lucy. "You can't tell anyone from back home."

"I swear by Aslan's mane," Lucy said solemnly, crossing her heart with one hand.

"You really love this Aslan, huh?" Charlie nodded to himself and turned to Lucy. "I work at a dragon sanctuary."

All thoughts of blasphemy against Aslan were abandoned as Lucy gasped. "Dragons! There are dragons in our world? And you get to work with them? How delightful!"

Charlie laughed and held out his freckled hands. Lucy took one of them and turned it this way and that, looking at his scars. "See all these burns? I wouldn't call it delightful. But it's really important, since dragons are almost endangered. And they're magnificent creatures." He offered Lucy the hand she'd dropped. "Ready for that walk?"

Lucy took his hand and jumped up. "What's your favourite kind of dragon?" she asked. She dropped Charlie's hand and pointed towards a break in the forest.

"That's a difficult question. Opaleyes have a great personality to work with, and they have beautiful scales. I love Fireball scales, too. But I have a soft spot for Ironbellies. They're the biggest dragons, and they're absolutely incredible." Charlie held a branch away from Lucy so she could walk underneath. "Look, that's a sign of animal life," he said, pointing. "What kind of animal do you think it's from?"

Lucy bent down to peer at the trampled grass. "It's a small track. Perhaps a rabbit?" She'd seen plenty of deer tracks in her time as queen, and this looked just like a miniature version.

"Yep! Look at the scat." Charlie pointed out a mound of small brown balls.

"Eww," Lucy said jokingly, continuing up the hill ahead of Charlie.

"Wait until you see dragon poop."

"Does that mean I can meet a dragon?!" Lucy exclaimed, turning around.

"Maybe, if you come to Romania. I can't promise anything."

"Please, I'd love to!"

They walked in friendly silence for a few minutes before Charlie spotted some tracks in a patch of dirt. Lucy crouched down to inspect them. They had three evenly-spaced oval toes and two claw marks for each toe.

"What kind of animal made these?" Lucy asked.

Charlie bent down and investigated the tracks, putting one hand in the dust for balance. "I've never seen this kind of track before," he mused. "There aren't many creatures with three toes back home. But ages and ages ago, horses had three toes..." He stood up and brushed the dust from his hands. "This is fantastic! I wish I had my notebook with me."

"Horses had three toes? And do you draw?"

"Yeah. Prehistoric horses were the size of dogs. Sometimes I draw for my work—animals and their tracks."

"Little dogs or big dogs?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know much about ancient animals," Charlie said. He and Lucy scrambled on hands and knees up a steep slope, clinging to stubborn bushes and rocks to find their way upwards. Charlie helped pull Lucy up onto even ground. He turned and gaped at the sight of a tree covered in deeply slashed bark. He went to inspect the marks. Near the surface of the bark, they were very wide with neat edges. They tapered to a narrow incision deeper in the heart of the tree. Each was about three feet long, slashed vertically down the trunk.

Charlie looked over his shoulder at Lucy, who was transfixed by the tree. "These are dragon marks," he murmured.

Lucy capped a hand over her mouth, no longer enchanted by the idea of a dragon when faced with evidence of the damage it could wreak.

"It's okay," Charlie said, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Just stay quiet." He took his wand from his pocket, having decided that Muggles who traveled between worlds hardly counted as Muggles.

He and Lucy advanced up another slope and into a deep stone ravine. Near one end was a deep, clear pool, so they stopped to drink some water. As they did so, they could hear the rattle of small stones. Each whipped around to see what could only be described as a dragon coming out of a cave.

Charlie made sure Lucy was behind him as he studied the dragon. It wasn't that big as far as dragons go, though sometimes the smallest dragons were the most dangerous. It never paid to underestimate a strange dragon. Charlie was prepared to stun it, but to his surprise, the dragon stayed right where it was. Then it limped its way toward them. Charlie spotted a thick bracelet around one foreleg and frowned. It made sense that a dragon might step into a piece of jewelry from its hoard, if it had one, but Charlie thought it was likely to fall off after a few days. This one was deeply buried into the dragon's flesh, as though it had been there for years.

The dragon stopped a few yards in front of them. Charlie kept his wand pointed at the dragon and whispered to Lucy to walk slowly away. She obeyed. The dragon folded its legs and sank to the ground. Tears the size of grapes began to leak from its yellow eyes. Charlie was astounded. He took slow, cautious steps toward the dragon and walked around it. The dragon's eyes opened, its pupils following Charlie as he walked. Charlie came back around to the front of the dragon and crouched down. He held out one hand, ready to snatch it away, but the dragon just closed its eyes again and cried. Charlie gently touched the dragon's good leg. He stood up and moved away from the dragon.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked softly.

"I'm not sure. This dragon isn't like any other dragon I know," Charlie replied, not taking his eyes away from the beast.

The dragon opened its eyes, lifted its head off the ground, and bobbed it up and down.

"It looks like the dragon is nodding!" Lucy said, coming forward despite herself. The dragon bobbed its head faster than before.

"Can you understand us?" Charlie asked the dragon. "Nod twice for yes." The dragon slowly and carefully bobbed its head twice.

"Now nod once for yes," said Charlie, and the dragon did so. Charlie grew pale beneath his crop of freckles.

"Do most dragons understand us?" Lucy asked.

"No. I've never met a dragon who can." Charlie looked again at the bracelet on its leg. Perhaps it had been there for years, or perhaps the dragon had grown overnight…

"Have you always been a dragon?" Charlie asked it, and the dragon shook its head side to side.

Lucy gasped. "What were you before?"

The dragon heaved itself onto all four legs and carefully raised one leg, attempting to draw in the sand. Its first few attempts were very messy and Lucy couldn't understand them despite her best efforts, but eventually the dragon managed an H and a U.

"Human?" Lucy cried. The dragon nodded vigorously.

"Have you been a dragon for long?" Charlie asked, and the dragon shook its head.

Charlie and Lucy turned to look at each other. "EUSTACE," they cried together. Eustace hadn't been seen since they disembarked from the boat. They hadn't yet begun to worry, though, since he hated work. The dragon nodded enthusiastically before flopping to the ground and putting his feet over his head. Tears plopped into the dust around his head. Charlie and Lucy had a quick whispered conversation before they turned back to Eustace.

"Could you fly us back to the beach?" Lucy asked. Eustace did a dragonish shrug, and the pair clambered onto his back.

The countryside below, though harsh, was gorgeous. Lucy felt as though she could reach down and touch the mountaintops skimming by below them. Some were covered in tall cedar trees, while others were covered only in sharp-edged rocks. Waterfalls cascaded from the peaks, some dissolving into mist before they found a place to land. They reached the beach all too soon. Far below them, their friends pointed out the dragon and readied their bows. Eustace dropped to the ground as far away from them as possible, sending up waves of sand in his wake. Lucy and Charlie held their arms in front of their faces to protect their eyes. They slid off Eustace's back and ran across the beach, waving their arms and yelling.

The others immediately lowered their bows. "Lucy? Charlie?"

Lucy ran into Edmund and Caspian's arms. Charlie pointed behind them. "The dragon is Eustace," he explained. The others immediately began to talk among themselves.

"He really is!" Lucy called above the din, released from the group hug. "We can get him to write his name in the sand!"

The king and others looked dubious, but Edmund took control. "It's worth a try," he said. "The dragon hasn't tried to attack us yet, and we have plenty of men here to attack it if we must."

"Careful, it may be trying to make us trust it so it's easier to attack us," said Caspian.

"He won't hurt us," Charlie said. "Come on." Edmund, Charlie, and Lucy set off briskly for the other end of the beach, with some of the others following more slowly behind. When they got there, Charlie spoke gently to the dragon. "Can you try to write your name for us?"

Eustace raised one foot again and clumsily dragged one of his claws through the sand. He managed to make most of the letters readable enough to convince even Caspian. After that, they tried to figure out how to un-dragon him. Charlie took Eustace to one side and tried various Transfiguration spells and charms, but nothing budged his dragon skin. Eventually they had to concede defeat. None of them had ever seen a person turned into a dragon before, even Charlie.

Although they all benefited from Eustace's new form, Charlie benefited the most. He got permission from Eustace to use his notebook to create dozens of sketches of his scale pattern, eyes, teeth, ear holes, claws, wings, joints, and everything else Charlie could think of. He practiced cleaning Eustace's scales and trimming his claws, taking notes as he did so. He brushed Eustace's teeth and cared for the sore area around the bracelet. As he worked, he continued to think up new solutions. Even if there was a potion he could make, he didn't think he could find the ingredients on the island. He had already tried all the spells he could. Of course, curse-breaking wasn't his specialty. He smiled at the absurd thought of taking Eustace the Dragon back to his own world and letting Bill take a look.

So, for the moment, life went on. Eustace hunted animals for them during the day. The sailors repaired the damage done to the _Dawn Treader_. Lucy repaired holes in everyone's clothing. When the nights were cold, Eustace kept everyone warm. When the nights were warm, Charlie would sit with Eustace and keep him company. Most nights Lucy and Reepicheep would join them. Charlie was well used to stories told in Reepicheep's high voice by now, but occasionally he'd look at the mouse and wonder how his life got to this point. He'd never seen a talking mouse at home.

One morning Charlie woke up earlier than usual, roused by whispers coming from the forest. He sat up slowly and got out his wand, but he soon recognised Edmund's voice and found him talking to a newly human Eustace.

"Eustace!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Morning, Charlie," Eustace said briskly. Charlie decided not to state the obvious, but that left him staring in undisguised shock. Eustace and Edmund chuckled. "It's a long story," Eustace said, "but here I am. Thanks awfully for taking care of me while I was a dragon."

"That's alright," Charlie said, sitting on a boulder. "Good practice for taking care of the sanctuary dragons." He, Edmund, and Eustace talked for a while longer before going to meet the others for breakfast.

It was a good thing that Eustace was no longer a dragon, mused Charlie, but he really would miss getting that sort of access to a dragon without having to use a Stunner. Oh well. He was sure there'd be many more adventures to come.


End file.
